The invention relates to a handle, useful as an external door handle for a motor vehicle, wherein the handle is a strap handle and has a gripping zone along its length.
Handles of this kind, especially when they are external door handles, can easily become soiled, for example when the vehicle is driven on wet, slushy or muddy roads and tracks.
In the case of external door handles of motor vehicles, the protection of the latter by supplementary devices against soiling caused by the relative wind has therefore already been disclosed. Devices of this kind described, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,214,425, German Pat. No. 2,403,690 and German Pat. No. 3,338,960 the principle of protecting the handle from the accumulation of dirt by elements which deflect the relative wind.
However, in many cases these known measures provide inadequate protection.
In particular, all these measures can only keep dirt away from the handle when the vehicle itself is in motion. In contrast, when the vehicle is stationary, such devices offer virtually no protection against dirt which is thrown against the door handle by other vehicles or which accumulates thereon in some other manner.
An object of the invention provides a cleaning device which provides for a clean condition to a handle for the person who wishes to use it, irrespective of how it became dirty and irrespective of the type of handle used.
This object is achieved on a handle of the generic type by providing a displaceable slide which moves across the gripping portion of the handle and touches, scrapes or brushes the gripping portion.
In contrast to the prior art described above, the solution according to the invention does not aim to prevent deposition of dirt, but rather aims to reliably and completely remove already deposited dirt before each use of the handle. The result, a self-cleaning handle, thus differs not only in structure, but also fundamentally from the known dirt prevention devices.
The slide which effects the cleaning of the door handle is preferably moved from outside the handle by a drive mechanism situated in the vehicle door.
Means are provided for triggering the drive in such a way that the handle is cleaned automatically before being grasped by a person using the handle. Thus initiation of the cleaning action can be in response to a trigger means connected for example to an inside door handle, a door key lock, or a remote control device, etc..